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JPL's Open House Features Past, Present and Future In Space

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact:  Mary Hardin     

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           April 28, 1998

JPL's OPEN HOUSE FEATURES PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE IN SPACE 

     NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will open its doors to 
the public during its annual Open House on Saturday, May 30 and 
Sunday, May 31, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

     This popular, free event celebrates JPL's "Past, Present and 
Future" with exhibits and demonstrations about the Laboratory's 
ongoing research and space exploration missions. 

     Many of the Lab's scientists and engineers will be on 
hand to answer questions about how spacecraft are sent to other 
planets, how scientists utilize space technologies to explore 
Earth and how researchers have begun searching for planets beyond 
the solar system. Visitors will see exhibits, displays, 
demonstrations and presentations covering such topics as 
planetary imaging, space robotics, spacecraft communications and 
tracking. 

     Visitors will be able to see two Earth-observing instruments 
currently in development in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility, 
looking in on the progress of the Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat), 
set for launch in November, which will study winds over the 
oceans, and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mapper (SRTM) that will 
ride on the Space Shuttle and collect three-dimensional images of 
the Earth in 1999. 

     Close-up images of El Nino will be on display at the Earth 
Sciences booth, as scientists and engineers display the different 
ways JPL has tracked this weather-altering phenomenon with 
satellites.

     The Mars Yard -- a replica of the Martian landscape, will 
feature two full-scale models of Sojourner, the little rover that 
landed on Mars on July 4, 1996 aboard the Mars Pathfinder 
spacecraft.  

     Also on display will be a full-scale model of Galileo, 
currently in orbit around Jupiter, along with a colorful exhibit 
of stunning images of Jupiter's moon, Europa, which is thought to 
have a water ocean beneath its icy surface.  A full-scale model 
of the three-story-tall Cassini spacecraft, launched to Saturn in 
October 1997, can be viewed in JPL's spacecraft assembly 
facility. 

     Engineers who use NASA'S Deep Space Network to communicate 
with spacecraft will be on hand to explain spacecraft 
telecommunications. The Space Flight Operations Facility viewing 
gallery, where spacecraft communications take place, will also be 
open to visitors.

     Other featured projects will include JPL's Origins program, 
which is aimed at developing new technologies to detect other 
solar systems;  JPL's Center for Space Microelectronics 
Technology, which develops miniaturized instruments and sensors 
for future space flight; and the New Millennium program, which is 
developing revolutionary high-tech instruments for space flight 
in the 21st century.  

     Food and beverages will be available, along with space 
souvenirs and NASA and JPL merchandise.

     JPL is located at 4800 Oak Grove Drive in Pasadena, off the 
210 (Foothill) Freeway at the Berkshire Avenue/Oak Grove Drive 
exit.  For further information, visit the JPL Open House web site 
at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/openhouse . or call (818) 354-0112. 

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